Game board and arcuate playing pieces



Aug. 29, 1950 M. K. GRAHAM GAME BOAR AND ARCUATE PLAYING PIECES Filed May 25, 1949 l-'fro R NE Y.

Patented Aug. 29, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GAME BOARD AND AR'CUATE PLAYING PIECES,

3 Claims.

This invention relates to a game involving a board, upon which playing pieces are used to out line areas and counters are. employed to indicatescores for captured areas.

A primary object of the invention is toprovide a game board and playing pieces for playing games calling for skill, ingenuity, and quick perception of geometrical figures.

A further object of the invention is to provide a game board and playing pieces which can be used forgames to promote manual dexterity in children.

' A still further object is to provide a game board and playing pieces which are simple and inexpensive. to construct.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become obvious to those skilled in the art from the following description of one particular form of the invention as illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. lisa top plan view of. a board with several playing pieces and counters thereon, embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a view in section on the line 2-2 in Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a counter; and

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a playing piece.

Similar numerals and letters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

A rectangular board I made of any suitable g,

material, such as any of the plastics, wood, or ber board, is formed to have a, nat top surface I I which is provided with longitudinal and transverse rows of overlapping intersecting, equal size,

circular grooves, generally designated by the numeral I2.

While the board I il may be made with varying dimensions and varying numbers of the circular grooves I2, in the present showing, there are eight rows of the grooves l2 transversely of the board and eight rows longitudinally thereof.

A peculiarity of the placement of these grooves I2 on the board is that the grooves are tangential in diagonally disposed pairs at any one intersecting zone I3 except along the outer marginal grooves. For example, the groove I2a across the zone I3 is tangential to the groove lZb, and the groove I2c is tangential to the groove I2d. Furthermore, within any one circular groove such as I2c removed from the outer marginal rows, there is formed a four sided, star design, as, for example within the complete circular groove 20, by the arcuate groove segments Iii, I5, i6, and I1, of all four of the overlapping adjacent ciicular grooves IZa, I2e, IZJ and I2b.

Arbitrary numbers, herein shown as the numeral 5, are inscribed centrally within arbtrarily selected circular grooves l2, as indicated;- in Fig. l.

A plurality of playing pieces I8 are made to.- be identical in shape and dimensions. Each pieceA I8 is arcuately formed to nt snugly by about half its height in any one of the grooves i2. However the arcuate length of each piece i8 is sub-- stantially the length, of the arcuate portion of any groove I2 between adjacent zones I3. In order that the pieces i8 may not be displaced accidently during the game, the. grooves I2 are rectangular in cross-section, and likewise, the pieces i8 are rectangular in cross-section. The number of playing pieces I8 provided should be four times as great ,as the number of annular grooves on the board In, or in this case two hundredand fifty six playing pieces.

A- plurality of counters 2.0, Fig. 3, are provided in different color sets to provide each player with; a. number of counters. of the same color.

A number of games can be played on the board II] with the pieces I8 and counters 20, and the following rules are presented only for the purpose of illustrating one such game.

The object of the game is to accumulate points, the winner being the player accumulating the highest number of points during a game.

The game is commenced by the lead player placing a piece I8 in any one of the grooves I2 between the zones I3 or, in the case of a marginal or corner groove, by placing a piece I8 in that portion of a groove removed from and outside the groove intersections.

Successive players in turn place a piece I8 in any selected groove segment and in addition may, at their option, move any other piece I3 circumferentially in its groove I2 to a second position in or opposite a zone I3.

Points are attained by any player whose move results in completing the inclosure of an area by four playing pieces i8. The enclosed area may be the circular area bounded by any groove I2, or it may be the star-shaped area bounded by such segments I4, I5, it and I'I, as above indicated. In this respect there may be employed a scoring advantage of additional points as between the two diiierently shaped areas.

When a player incloses an area by his move he places a marker of his specic color in the area.

After a player incloses an area he is immediately given an additional turn.

The game is nished when all of the sixty-four areas have been inclosed.

*vhen the game is nished the score is determined by counting the units attained by each player' as denoted by the counters and the numerals on the areas.

The scoring evaluation may vary, but, as a present example, the unmarked areas may have a value of one each and the areas marked with the numeral 5 have a value of ve units each.

While I have herein shown and described my invention in one particular form it is obvious that some structural changes can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention, and I therefore do not desire to be limited to this precise form beyond the limitations which may be imposed by the following claims.

I claim:

1. Game apparatus comprising a substantially at game board provided with a plurality of completely circular grooves formed therein, each of said grooves havinga common depth, width, and internal and external radius; said circular grooves having their centers aligned on parallel longitudinal rows and also aligned on parallel transverse rows; each of said grooves intersecting each longitudinally and transversely adjacent groove so as to subtend an arc of substantially ninety degrees therein; and each of said grooves having its outer Wall tangent to the outer wall of each diagonally adjacent groove.

2. Game apparatus comprising a substantially flat game board provided with a plurality of completely circular grooves formed therein, each of said grooves having a common depth, width, and internal and external radius; said circular grooves having their centers aligned on parallel longitudinal rows and also aligned on parallel transverse rows; each of said grooves intersecting each longitudinally and transversely adjacent groove so as to subtend an arc of substantially ninety degrees therein; and each of said grooves having its outer Wall tangent to the outer wall of each diagonally adjacent groove; and arcuate area bounding pieces formed to slide freely in said circular grooves, said pieces being equal in length to the portion of each circular groove subtended by an adjacent intersecting groove.

3. A game comprising a substantially flat board having recurring sets of common diameter overlapping, circular grooves arranged in a regular geometric form across the board, each set comprising a minimum of four circular grooves wherein two circular grooves are tangential one with the other on a forty-live degree line and the other two circular grooves are tangential one with the other on a line perpendicular to said forty-live degree line, the two tangential zones meeting on the intersection of said lines to preserve a full open, circular groove in each instance with arcs of one circular groove centered on one of said lines crossing two circular grooves centered on the other of said lines to lie within the circular areas defined thereby in each instance; and playing pieces arcuate in shape to fit within said grooves, each piece having an arcuate length equal to that length of a groove portion which lies Within one of said areas.

MARY KATHERINE GRAHAM.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,176,810 Batchelder Mar. 28, 1916 1,213,690 Quinones Jan. 23, 1917 1,216,355 Persyn Feb. 20, 1917 1,628,412 Lcsavoy May 10, 1927 2,188,480 Murray Jan. 30, 1940 2,214,167 Hohn Sept. 10, 1940 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 108,-830 Germany June 15, 1899 426,416 Germany VMar. 11, 1926 

